A Griddle Shouldn't Only Be Used For Pancakes

What's flat and hot, rhymes with fiddle, and is the hero behind a big Sunday breakfast? The griddle! From the massive professional griddles that grace many a diner kitchen to the plug-in electric versions for the home, the griddle is an integral piece of cooking equipment. A griddle can be non-stick or cast iron or carbon steel. It can come in a pan shape with a handle, or be long and rectangular. Pretty much any flat, low-sided (or no-sided) cooking surface could be considered a griddle.

When most people think of griddles they often think of pancakes — the wide surface is perfect for cooking multiple flapjacks at once, a must when you're in a rush to get breakfast on the table. But the griddle is so much more than just a pancake machine, and if you only pull out your griddle when it's pancake time you're missing out on activating the tool's full potential.

Griddles are amazing for toasting up sandwiches like a grilled cheese or a reuben. Their wide flat surface can help you achieve crepes of massive proportions. You can activate your inner short-order cook and cook up a big batch of home fries or even scrambled eggs on top of the griddle. You can sear off some chicken thighs as well as saute onions and mushrooms all at the same time, on the same pan.

A lot of griddles are designed to go on your stovetop, but if you'd prefer an electric version we've got a list of the best electric griddles for 2023. For the serious griddler, the TikTok-famous Blackstone griddle might be the way to go.

Once you've decided which griddle suits your needs, it's time to get cooking. If there is one dish that truly highlights the griddle's multi-use capabilities it would be steak and eggs. One side of your griddle you can pan-sear your steak, and then when that is close to being finished crack open a couple of eggs to fry in the pan juices. For a truly decadent meal sauté some asparagus alongside the steak, and then serve it all with a Béchamel sauce, which should be cooked on a griddle anyways.

The list of what you can cook on a griddle could go on and on, but the true lesson here is that you shouldn't relegate your griddle to pancake duty. Treat your kitchen like a professional kitchen and always have your griddle at the ready, you'll quickly realize how versatile it can be.